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Primarily because of Harrison. I think he's the best of all the Steelers LBs. Not by longevity, but by peak performance.

If we're going by longevity, I'd have to go with Ham. Although, I'd take Timmons over him and think if you plugged Timmons into the 70s he'd be a monster in that system because he has everyone in terms of athleticism.

In terms of versatility, I'd say Chad Brown had that hands down. He was fantastic inside and out. I'm not sure how many guys could make that transition so easily. Timmons can't and he's quite easily the best athlete we've ever had at LB.

I agree Harrison is the best ever LB in Pgh history at his peak. If he didn't have such a late start, he probably would be a Hall of Famer. Brown seemed awesome but wasn't that great in Seattle so I don't know. But, was the Harrison group better than Lloyd's? Kevin Greene and Lloyd on the outside with Kirkland and Brown in the middle? I don't know man, that is hard to beat. Let's not forget the greatness of Greene and Lloyd.

But that's the exception, not the rule. And Farrior didn't have his best season when he was that light. Lambert even looked skinny. I don't know that he could bring enough junk in the trunk to get off blocks from 330 lb OGs. They would envelope him.

Pro football career Ham was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second-round (34th overall) of the 1971 NFL Draft. He won the starting left linebacker job as a rookie. He was first-team All-Pro six years and was named to eight straight Pro Bowls.[1] He was named the greatest outside linebacker of all time by a consortium of professional sports writers, beating Lawrence Taylor for this honor.[

Dobre Shunka!!!

Better than LT? Were these guys sniffing glue or paint? LT was a one-man wrecking machine. Ham was no where near that level. LT was the only LB to ever win MVP.

Jack Lambert was my favorite Steeler growing up, but Deebo is nobody's pussycat. Kent State in the house??

King Kong himself couldn't make Deebo look like a pussycat. When healthy, he impacts almost every play - pass or rush. It's amazing. His leverage, power, quickness and firepower with his hits is incomprehensible. I have seen Lambert get ran over like a VW bug being hit head on by a Mack Truck (Both Earl Campbell and Pete Johnson did this.)

Better than LT? Were these guys sniffing glue or paint? LT was a one-man wrecking machine. Ham was no where near that level. LT was the only LB to ever win MVP.

LT was a sack master but he can't hold Hams jock strap when it comes to " Complete Linebacker " Like I said, Ham, Lambert Russel the best ever period.
Now thats my opinion that is shared by many in the NFL and the sports writers.

On a similar note, PLEASE don't discount players based on accolades. I'm not about to say that Ham/Lambert weren't all that, but anyone who watched Harrison or Greg Lloyd can say that they could've/would've played on those 70's teams too. And if they did, they would've reaped similar accolades.

Let's be honest--you have Joe Greene bringing heat from the inside, and Mel Blount mauling anyone on one side of the field (i.e. shut-down), and it wouldn't be hard for LBs to make some big plays.

Not just Mean Joe, but _ALL_ the front 4 wreaked havoc: Holmes, LC, White? All were beasts. If you put Lloyd or Harrison on those teams, they would have even stood out MORE than did Ham and Jack.

Well, they certainly weren't bad but they don't deserve mention among these 3 groups. I actually had beers with Hinkle. But Merriweather was one of the only players to hold out to the point of never playing for the Steelers again - he ended up in MN and didn't do all that much.